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112-480: Cosmorama was also the name of an entertainment in 19th century London, at 207-209 Regent Street , at which the public could view scenes of distant lands and exotic subjects through optical devices that magnified the pictures. It was later converted into an exhibition of curiosities named the Prince of Wales Bazaar . Exhibits included a sea lion, a sea serpent and L. Bertolotto's Flea circus . Port-au-Prince Cosmorama

224-497: A fellow Westminster Schoolboy , said of him "Since the time of Archimedes there scarce ever met in one man in so great perfection such a mechanical hand and so philosophical mind." When a fellow of All Souls , Wren constructed a transparent beehive for scientific observation; he began observing the Moon, which was to lead to the invention of micrometers for the telescope. According to Parentalia (pp. 210–211), his solid model of

336-470: A fermentative motion arising from the mixture of two heterogeneous fluids. Although this is incorrect, it was at least founded upon observation and may mark a new outlook on medicine: specialisation. Another topic to which Wren contributed was optics. He published a description of an engine to create perspective drawings and he discussed the grinding of conical lenses and mirrors. Out of this work came another of Wren's important mathematical results, namely that

448-441: A few weeks of their birth. Their son Christopher was born in 1632. Then, two years later, another daughter named Elizabeth was born. Mary must have died shortly after the birth of Elizabeth, although there does not appear to be any surviving record of the date. Through Mary Cox, however, the family became well off financially for, as the only heir, she had inherited her father's estate. As a child Wren "seem'd consumptive". Although

560-485: A grand scale, designed to harmonise and produce an impressive overall effect. Strict rules governed the reconstruction. Each block had to be designed with a continuous unifying street façade and finished in Portland stone. The first redevelopment was Regent House, just south of Oxford Circus. The stylistic tone for the rebuilding was set by Sir Reginald Blomfield 's Quadrant. The architect Norman Shaw , then aged 73,

672-529: A little under 200 years. Since 2014 the premises have been occupied by Watches of Switzerland . Immediately north of Regent Street is the BBC 's headquarters, Broadcasting House , whose front entrance is in Langham Place. Several national radio stations are broadcast from this building. The site had formerly been a building on the gardens of Foley House designed by James Wyatt and called Wyatt's House. It

784-655: A major role in the early life of what would become the Royal Society; his great breadth of expertise in so many different subjects helped in the exchange of ideas between the various scientists. In fact, the report on one of these meetings reads: Memorandum November 28, 1660. These persons following according to the usual custom of most of them, met together at Gresham College to hear Mr Wren's lecture, viz. The Lord Brouncker , Mr Boyle , Mr Bruce , Sir Robert Moray , Sir Paule Neile , Dr Wilkins , Dr Goddard , Dr Petty , Mr Ball , Mr Rooke , Mr Wren, Mr Hill . And after

896-478: A nine-page answer, De motu corporum in gyrum , which was later to be expanded into the Principia . Mentioned above are only a few of Wren's scientific works. He also studied other areas, ranging from agriculture, ballistics , water and freezing, light and refraction , to name only a few. Thomas Birch 's History of the Royal Society (1756–57) is one of the most important sources of our knowledge not only of

1008-783: A number of the churches is now more commonly attributed to others in his office, especially Nicholas Hawksmoor . Other notable buildings by Wren include the Royal Hospital Chelsea , the Old Royal Naval College , Greenwich, and the south front of Hampton Court Palace . Educated in Latin and Aristotelian physics at the University of Oxford , Wren was a founder of the Royal Society and served as its president from 1680 to 1682. His scientific work

1120-512: A part of Crown Estate's plans to redevelop this part of Regent Street. Veeraswamy , London's oldest extant Indian restaurant, has been at 99-101 Regent Street since 1926. Regent Street is home to several events throughout the year. The Regent Street Festival happens annually, and during this time, the street is closed to traffic. In September, there is a series of fashion-related events, dubbed as Fashion and Design Month (FDM), which has been running since 2015. In an interview with David Shaw,

1232-416: A presence in the general process of rebuilding the city, but was not directly involved with the rebuilding of houses or companies' halls. Wren was personally responsible for the rebuilding of 51 churches ; however, it is not necessarily true to say that each of them represented his own fully developed design. Wren was knighted on 14 November 1673. This honour was bestowed on him after his resignation from

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1344-682: A property on Regent Street, shortly after the process had been publicly documented. Regent Street is a location on the British version of Monopoly as a group of three green squares with Oxford Street and Bond Street . The three properties are grouped together as they are all known for their retail and commercial backgrounds. The Langham Hotel on Regent Street is mentioned in several of Arthur Conan Doyle 's Sherlock Holmes stories, including "The Sign of Four", "A Scandal in Bohemia" and "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax". In The Hound of

1456-473: A set of rooms and a stipend and required to give weekly lectures in both Latin and English. Wren took up this new work with enthusiasm. He continued to meet the men with whom he had frequent discussions in Oxford. They attended his London lectures and in 1660, initiated formal weekly meetings. It was from these meetings that the Royal Society, England's premier scientific body, was to develop. He undoubtedly played

1568-504: A sickly child, he would survive into robust old age. He was first taught at home by a private tutor and his father. After his father's royal appointment as Dean of Windsor in March 1635, his family spent part of each year there, but little is known about Wren's life at Windsor. He spent his first eight years at East Knoyle and was educated by the Rev. William Shepherd, a local clergyman. Little

1680-470: A smoking desert and old St Paul's to ruin. Wren was most likely at Oxford at the time, but the news, so fantastically relevant to his future, drew him at once to London. Between 5 and 11 September, he ascertained the precise area of devastation, worked out a plan for rebuilding the City and submitted it to Charles II. Others also submitted plans. However, no new plan proceeded any further than the paper on which it

1792-665: A spell into it; that every Beating of the Balance will tell you 'tis the Pulse of my Heart, which labors as much to serve you and more trewly than the Watch; for the Watch I beleeve will sometimes lie, and sometimes be idle & unwilling ... but as for me you may be confident I shall never ... This brief marriage produced two children: Gilbert, born October 1672, who suffered from convulsions and died at about 18 months old, and Christopher , born February 1675. The younger Christopher

1904-631: A strong seller of table tennis equipment in the late 19th century, allowing the sport to become popular. The business moved to Nos. 200–202, and moved to the current address in 1981. It claims to be the largest toy shop in the world. The main London branch of the clothing store Jaeger was at Nos. 200–206 Regent Street. It was founded in 1884 by Lewis Tomalin, who was inspired by naturalist Gustav Jäger 's pioneering use of anti-animal fibre-based clothing. The first shop, on Fore Street , had "Doctor Jaeger's Sanitary Woollen System" inscribed above

2016-404: A thorough grounding in Latin and also learned to draw. According to Parentalia , he was "initiated" in the principles of mathematics by William Holder , who married Wren's elder sister Susan (or Susanna) in 1643. His drawing was put to academic use in providing many of the anatomical drawings for the anatomy textbook of the brain, Cerebri Anatome (1664), published by Thomas Willis , who coined

2128-580: A trip to Paris in 1665, Wren studied architecture, which had reached a climax of creativity, and perused the drawings of Bernini , the great Italian sculptor and architect, who himself was visiting Paris at the time. Returning from Paris, he made his first design for St Paul's. A week later, however, the Great Fire destroyed two-thirds of the city. Wren submitted his plans for rebuilding the city to King Charles II, although they were never adopted. With his appointment as King's Surveyor of Works in 1669, he had

2240-418: Is known of Wren's schooling thereafter, during dangerous times when his father's Royal associations would have required the family to keep a very low profile from the ruling Parliamentary authorities. It was a tough time in his life, but one which would go on to have a significant impact upon his later works. The story that he was at Westminster School between 1641 and 1646 is substantiated only by Parentalia ,

2352-537: Is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton . It runs from Waterloo Place in St James's at the southern end, through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus , to All Souls Church . From there Langham Place and Portland Place continue the route to Regent's Park . The street's layout was completed in 1825 and

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2464-410: Is not dynamics , for which the book is now better known, but rather the strength of materials, which Galileo had recognized 30 years earlier as a "science that is very necessary in making machines and buildings of all kinds." In 1624 Henry Wotton , the British ambassador to Venice , published a book on architecture in which he analyzed in a rudimentary way the structure of a stone arch . Moreover, in

2576-647: The BBC Broadcasting House , with the road ahead being Langham Place , followed by Portland Place . The southern section of the road is one-way northbound and part of the A4 , a major road through West London. From Piccadilly Circus northwards, it is numbered A4201, though in common with roads inside the London congestion charging zone , the number does not appear on signs. Nearby tube stations are Charing Cross , Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus ;

2688-466: The Church of St Leonard . The Wren family estate was at The Old Court House in the area of Hampton Court . He had been given a lease on the property by Queen Anne in lieu of salary arrears for building St Paul's. For convenience Wren also leased a house on St James's Street in London. According to a 19th-century legend, he would often go to London to pay unofficial visits to St Paul's, to check on

2800-596: The Invisible College , Within the arms of All Souls, the arms of Wren's friend Robert Boyle appear in the colonnade of the Great Quadrangle, opposite the arms of the Hill family of Shropshire , close by a sundial designed by Boyle's friend Wren. His days as a fellow of All Souls ended when Wren was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College , London, in 1657. He was there provided with

2912-508: The University of Westminster , has been based on Regent Street since 1838. Regent Street is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) long and begins at a junction with Charles II Street as a continuation of Waterloo Place. It runs north to Piccadilly Circus , where it turns left before curving round the Quadrant to head north again, meeting Oxford Street at Oxford Circus . It ends at a junction with Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street near

3024-623: The façade of the Louvre and the observatory of the Académie Française . In London, it was Wren and Hooke who collaborated as chief architect and city surveyor after the city was devastated by the Great Fire of 1666. In 1661, just months after taking his post at Oxford, Wren was invited by Charles II to oversee the construction of new harbour defences at Tangier—then-newly under British control . Wren ultimately excused himself from

3136-535: The hyperboloid of revolution is a ruled surface . These results were published in 1669. In subsequent years, Wren continued with his work with the Royal Society, although after the 1680s his scientific interests seem to have waned: no doubt his architectural and official duties absorbed more time. It was a problem posed by Wren that serves as an ultimate source to the conception of Newton's Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis . Robert Hooke had theorised that planets, moving in vacuo , describe orbits around

3248-436: The "Camel's Back". Liberty later took over all of Nos. 140–150 Regent Street. In 1925, this complex was replaced by two new buildings, and a mock tudor building (built by architects Edwin T. Hall and his son Edwin S. Hall, constructed from the timbers of two ships, HMS  Impregnable , and HMS  Hindustan on neighbouring Great Marlborough Street connected by a footbridge over Kingly Street , which separates

3360-497: The "centre of fashion". Shops expanded into multiple properties, selling imported and exotic products to appeal to niche consumers. By the end of the century, fashions had changed and the original buildings were small and old fashioned, restricting trade. The colonnade constructed by Nash was demolished in the mid-19th century for fear it might attract "doubtful characters". Other buildings were not up to modern building standards; some had been extended and were structurally suspect. As

3472-653: The 17th century, it was people who would now be called scientists who were awarded the commissions to design and build monumental structures. In Turin , Guarino Guarini , a mathematician, devised the plans for such celebrated buildings as the Royal Church of Saint Lawrence , the Chapel of the Holy Shroud and the Palazzo Carignano . In Paris , Claude Perrault , a physician and an anatomist , designed

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3584-405: The 37-year-old Wren married his childhood neighbour, the 33-year-old Faith Coghill, daughter of Sir John Coghill of Bletchingdon . Little is known of Faith, but a love letter from Wren survives, which reads, in part: I have sent your Watch at last & envy the felicity of it, that it should be soe near your side & soe often enjoy your Eye. ... .but have a care for it, for I have put such

3696-635: The 99-year leases came to an end, Regent Street was redeveloped between 1895 and 1927 under the control of the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues (now known as the Crown Estate ). The modern Regent Street is the result of this redevelopment. No original structures survive except south of Oxford Circus for some Nash-designed sewers. The current design is an example of the Beaux Arts approach to urban design: an assembly of separate buildings on

3808-697: The Baskervilles (chapter 4), Holmes and Watson attempt to follow Stapleton down Regent Street. Offshoot crescent road Heddon Street was the location for the cover photography for 1972 David Bowie album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars . A blue plaque has been placed to mark the spot where Bowie posed for the front cover. Notes Citations Sources Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS ( / r ɛ n / ; 30 October 1632 [ O.S. 20 October] – 8 March 1723 [ O.S. 25 February])

3920-595: The Garden Quadrangle at Trinity College, Oxford , and the chapel of Emmanuel College, Cambridge . Wren left for Paris in July 1665 on his first and only trip abroad. In France, the architect encountered an architectural milieu more closely linked to the ideals of the Italian Renaissance . Wren also met Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who was "widely acknowledged by contemporaries as the greatest artist of

4032-580: The Garter, younger brother of Dr. Mathew ( sic ) Wren Ld Bp of Ely, a branch of the ancient family of Wrens of Binchester in the Bishoprick [ sic ] of Durham 1653. Elected from Wadham into fellowship of All Souls 1657. Professor of Astronomy Gresham College London 1660. Savilian Professor. Oxford After 1666. Surveyor General for Rebuilding the Cathedral Church of St.Paul and

4144-545: The King's offer. Letters dated to the end of 1661 note that in addition to the Tangier project, Charles II had also sought Wren for consultation regarding repairs to Old St Paul's Cathedral , the reconstruction of which would ultimately be the architect's magnum opus. Speaking of Wren's vocational transition from academic to architect-engineer, biographer Adrian Tinniswood writes "the use of mathematicians in military fortification

4256-481: The Moon attracted the attention of the King who commanded Wren to perfect it and present it to him. He contrived an artificial Eye, truly and dioptrically made (as large as a Tennis-Ball) representing the Picture as Nature makes it: The Cornea, and Crystalline were Glass, the other Humours, Water. He experimented on terrestrial magnetism and had taken part in medical experiments while at Wadham College , performing

4368-922: The Parochial Churches & all other Public Buildings which he lived to finish 1669. Surveyor General till April 26. 1718 1680. President of the Royal Society 1698. Surveyor General & Sub Commissioner for Repairs to Westminster Abbey by Act of Parliament, continued till death. His body is to be deposited in the Great Vault under the Dome of the Cathedral of St. Paul. "The Curious and Entire Libraries of Sir Christopher Wren", and of his son, were auctioned by Langford and Cock at Mr Cock's in Covent Garden on 24–27 October 1748. One of Wren's friends, Robert Hooke , scientist and architect and

4480-599: The Place Vendome in Paris, between 1815 and 1816. The vast majority of the street was designed by Nash or Burton. However, a few buildings were designed by Charles Robert Cockerell , Sir John Soane , or others. By 1819, the Crown was receiving regular rent and the street was becoming established. At first, it was named New Street and became a dividing line between Soho , which had declined socially and economically, and

4592-498: The Regent Street Association have arranged annual Christmas lights. There is a different display every year and the switching on ceremony occurs during November. On 6 July 2004, half a million people crowded into Regent Street and the surrounding streets to watch a parade of Formula One cars. In 2016, the sport's chief manager, Bernie Ecclestone , speculated that a London Grand Prix may potentially happen in

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4704-413: The Royal Society from 1680 to 1682. In 1661, Wren was elected Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford, and in 1669 he was appointed Surveyor of Works to Charles II. From 1661 until 1668 Wren's life was based in Oxford, although his attendance at meetings of the Royal Society meant that he had to make periodic trips to London. The main sources for Wren's scientific achievements are the records of

4816-435: The Royal Society. His scientific works ranged from astronomy, optics , the problem of finding longitude at sea, cosmology , mechanics , microscopy , surveying , medicine and meteorology . He observed, measured, dissected, built models and employed, invented and improved a variety of instruments. It was probably around this time that Sir Christopher Wren was drawn into redesigning a battered St Paul's Cathedral . Making

4928-607: The Savilian chair in Oxford, by which time he had already begun to make his mark as an architect, both in services to the Crown and in playing an important part in rebuilding London after the Great Fire. Additionally, he was sufficiently active in public affairs to be returned as Member of Parliament on four occasions. Wren first stood for Parliament in a by-election in 1667 for the Cambridge University constituency , losing by six votes to Sir Charles Wheler . He

5040-451: The Sun because of a rectilinear inertial motion by the tangent and an accelerated motion towards the Sun. Wren's challenge to Halley and Hooke, for the reward of a book worth thirty shillings, was to provide, within the context of Hooke's hypothesis, a mathematical theory linking Kepler's laws with a specific force law. Halley took the problem to Newton for advice, prompting the latter to write

5152-525: The Winter of 1662 or 1663 and the chapel was completed in 1665. Wren's second, similarly collegiate work followed soon after, when he was commissioned to design Oxford's " New Theatre ", financed by Gilbert Sheldon . His design for the structure was met with lukewarm to negative reception, with even Wren's defenders admitting the young architect to have not yet been "capable of handling a large architectural composition with assurance". Adrian Tinniswood credits

5264-512: The architect of this church and city, Christopher Wren, who lived beyond ninety years, not for his own profit but for the public good. Reader, if you seek his monument – look around you. Died 25 Feb. 1723, age 91. His obituary was published in the Post Boy No. 5244 London 2 March 1723: Sir Christopher Wren who died on Monday last in the 91st year of his age, was the only son of Dr. Chr. Wren, Dean of Windsor & Wolverhampton, Registar of

5376-463: The biography compiled by his son, a fourth Christopher, which places him there "for some short time" before going up to Oxford (in 1650); however, it is entirely consistent with headmaster Doctor Busby 's well-documented practice of educating the sons of impoverished Royalists and Puritans alike, irrespective of current politics or his own position. Some of Wren's youthful exercises preserved or recorded (though few are datable) showed that he received

5488-470: The building's flaws to "Sheldon's refusal to pay for an elaborate exterior, Wren's inability to find an adequate external expression for a building which was wholly conditioned by the functionality of its interior space and, ...his refusal to bend the knee to classical authority in the way that our experience of eighteenth-century architecture has conditioned us to believe is right." Prior to the theatre's 1669 completion, Wren had received further commissions for

5600-454: The café about his proposal to sue the Marquess of Queensberry for libel over Wilde's alleged homosexuality. Wilde went ahead with the trial, which ultimately led to his own arrest and imprisonment. The present building, by Sir Reginald Blomfield, dates from 1928 and is Grade II listed. It was closed in 2008 and the building which houses the café was bought by a subsidiary of Alrov Group , as

5712-416: The century". Though Bernini's concrete influence on Wren's designs was transmitted via published plans and engravings, the encounter surely impacted the budding architect and his vocational trajectory. St Paul's Cathedral in London has always been the highlight of Wren's reputation. His association with it spans his whole architectural career, including the 36 years between the start of the new building and

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5824-529: The city on the classical formal model. After a lack of progress, houses were rebuilt on the old street network anyway. In 1766, John Gwynn complained in London and Westminster Improved that there was a lack of planning throughout the West End and that it would be useful to construct a thoroughfare linking Marylebone Park (now Regent's Park ) with the Prince Regent 's Carlton House . John Fordyce

5936-456: The damage, it survived the war and became one of the best known buildings associated with radio broadcasting. Subsequently, the BBC expanded with additional studios at Maida Vale , followed by the former headquarters of BBC Television , BBC Television Centre at Wood Lane . In the 2000s, Broadcasting House was expanded to include a new wing and modernise the site, replacing earlier extensions. It

6048-464: The declaration by parliament of its completion in 1711. Letters document Wren's involvement in St Paul as early as 1661, when he was consulted by Charles II regarding repairs to the medieval structure. In the spring of 1666, he made his first design for a dome for St Paul's. It was accepted in principle on 27 August 1666. One week later, however, the Great Fire of London reduced two-thirds of the City to

6160-567: The door. Oscar Wilde was a regular visitor to the shop. Henry Morton Stanley is known to have worn Jaeger clothing during his search for David Livingstone in Africa, as is Robert Falcon Scott on his fated trip to the South Pole . The company moved to Regent Street in 1935; it moved out in January 2016. The Apple Store opened on Regent Street on 20 November 2004. At the time, this was

6272-558: The east side of Regent Street in 1821, and the west side of Regent Street, specifically the part between the Quadrant and Oxford Street , and its archways, in 1822. Burton built north of Old Burlington Street , and the east side of the street between Chapel Court and the entrance to the King Street Chapel SW1, in 1822. Burton also designed and built Regent Street St. James (Lower Regent Street) , and Waterloo Place, St. James's , whose facades he modelled on those of

6384-506: The fashionable squares and streets of Mayfair to the west. Carlton House was demolished after completion of the works in 1829 and was replaced by Carlton House Terrace , designed by Nash and the son of James Burton, Decimus Burton . Regent Street was the first shopping area in Britain to support late night opening in 1850, when shopkeepers agreed to keep stores open until 7pm. During the 19th century, Regent Street became established as

6496-427: The first successful injection of a substance into the bloodstream (of a dog ). In Gresham College , he did experiments involving determining longitude through magnetic variation and through lunar observation to help with navigation , and helped construct a 35-foot (11 m) telescope with Sir Paul Neile. Wren also studied and improved the microscope and telescope at this time. He had also been making observations of

6608-888: The first such store in Europe, with the others being in the United States and Japan. It was the largest Apple store worldwide until the opening of an even larger store in Covent Garden in August 2010. The building that houses the store is a grade II listed building built in 1898 for Venetian mosaicist Antonio Salviati. Austin Reed 's flagship store was at Nos. 103–113 Regent Street for more than 85 years, having moved there in 1911. It had an atrium at its centre, housing glass lifts allowing viewing across all floors. The lower ground floor sold womenswear and also housed Austin's,

6720-551: The future, including Regent Street as a part of the circuit. The character Lord Frederick Verisopht in Charles Dickens ' Nicholas Nickleby lived in an apartment in Regent Street. This reflected the nature of the street in the mid-19th century when it was still a fashionable residence for the upper class. In August 1839, the first British commercial production of daguerreotype photographs were carried out in

6832-483: The head of the Regent Street Portfolio , he said that for FDM 2016, they worked with many "talented individuals across a variety of events, combining creative talent with our established stores." There have been Christmas lights on Regent Street in various forms since 1882. The current regular displays date from 1948, when the Regent Street Association decorated the street with trees. Since 1954,

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6944-465: The income would come from private capital. Nash took responsibility for design and valuation of all properties. Construction of the road required demolishing numerous properties, disrupting trade and polluting the air with dust. Existing tenants had first offer to purchase leases on the new properties. The Treasury supported the proposal because, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars , there

7056-479: The infant Christopher back with her to Oxfordshire to raise. In 1677, 17 months after the death of his first wife, Wren remarried, this time to Jane Fitzwilliam, daughter of William FitzWilliam, 2nd Baron FitzWilliam , and his wife Jane Perry, the daughter of a prosperous London merchant. She was a mystery to Wren's friends and companions. Robert Hooke , who often saw Wren two or three times every week, had, as he recorded in his diary, never even heard of her, and

7168-513: The king. In 1658, he found the length of an arc of the cycloid using an exhaustion proof based on dissections to reduce the problem to summing segments of chords of a circle which are in geometric progression. A year into Wren's appointment as a Savilian Professor in Oxford, the Royal Society was created and Wren became an active member. As Savilian Professor, Wren studied mechanics thoroughly, especially elastic collisions and pendulum motions. He also directed his far-ranging intelligence to

7280-418: The largest blocks of Regent Street were purchased by Burton in 1817. Burton's houses on Regent Street are No. 4 to No. 12; No. 17 to No. 25; No. 106 to No. 128; No. 132 to No. 154; No. 133 to No. 167; No. 171 to No. 195; and No. 295 to No. 319. These were built, together with Carlton Chambers, between 1817 and 1820. Burton also built between Leicester Street and No. 129 Swallow Street in 1820. Burton built

7392-498: The lattermost being one of the busiest underground stations in London, and is where three main lines ( Central , Bakerloo and Victoria ) meet. Several bus routes, such as 6, 12, and 13, run along Regent Street. Regent Street was one of the first planned developments of London. An ordered structure of London streets, replacing the mediaeval layout, had been planned since just after the Great Fire of London (1666) when Sir Christopher Wren and John Evelyn drew plans for rebuilding

7504-458: The lecture was ended they did according to the usual manner, withdraw for mutual converse. In 1662, they proposed a society "for the promotion of Physico-Mathematicall Experimental Learning". This body received its Royal Charter from Charles II and "The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge" was formed. In addition to being a founder member of the Society, Wren was president of

7616-657: The monarch, started a major redevelopment programme. In 2013 the Estate sold a quarter of the 270,000-square-foot (25,000 m ) Regent Street Quadrant 3 building to the Norwegian Oil Fund , while later that year, Hackett London bought the lease for the Ferrari store on Regent Street for £4m. Smaller shops have been replaced by larger units; the street is now the flagship location of several major brands, including Apple and Banana Republic . The largest part of

7728-408: The newly-developed Regent Street in the 1820s; they first opened at number 49, and by 1848 had expanded into 45-51. The premises, which included a prominent frontage on Piccadilly Circus, were rebuilt by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1910-20. The department store closed down in 1982. Hedges and Butler, wine and spirits merchant established in 1667, moved into 153 Regent Street in 1819 and stayed there for

7840-481: The origins of the Society, but also the day-to-day running of the Society. It is in these records that most of Wren's known scientific works are recorded. Wren was a prominent man of science at the height of the Scientific Revolution. The Scientific Revolution seemed to promise a merger of the science of mechanics and the art of building. In Galileo Galilei 's Two New Sciences the first science

7952-460: The plan was the reconstruction of the Quadrant close to Piccadilly Circus, which was completed in 2011. It offers 200,000 square feet (19,000 m ) of office space spanning over seven floors. Two Art Deco -designed restaurants have also been restored, and the development includes a small number of apartments. The Crown Estate moved its own headquarters from Carlton House Terrace to Regent Street in 2006. The department store Dickins and Jones

8064-469: The planet Saturn from around 1652 with the aim of explaining its appearance. His hypothesis was written up in De corpore saturni but before the work was published, Huygens presented his theory of the rings of Saturn. Immediately Wren recognised this as a better hypothesis than his own and De corpore saturni was never published. In addition, he constructed an exquisitely detailed lunar model and presented it to

8176-503: The progress of "my greatest work". On one of these trips to London, at the age of ninety, he caught a cold and on 25 February 1723 a servant who tried to awaken Wren from his nap found that he had died in his sleep. Wren was laid to rest on 5 March 1723. His body was placed in the southeast corner of the crypt of St Paul's. There is a memorial to him in the crypt at St Paul's Cathedral. beside those of his daughter Jane, his sister Susan Holder, and her husband William. The plain stone plaque

8288-417: The properties. The toy store Hamleys is at No. 188 Regent Street, just south of Oxford Circus. It was founded as Noah's Ark at No. 231 High Holborn in 1760. An additional branch opened at Nos. 64–66 Regent Street in 1881, while the original High Holborn building burned down in 1901, moving to Nos. 86–87. The store was frequently the first to market the latest games and toys, and became

8400-607: The refurbished Art Deco Barber Shop. In May 2011, the British fashion retailer Superdry announced it would move into the building, paying £12m for the lease. In return, Austin Reed moved to the former Aquascutum shop on the other side of the road. In 2016, Austin Reed filed for administration , ending over 100 years' presence on Regent Street. Aquascutum , first established in Mayfair in 1851, opened its flagship store at 100 Regent Street in 1895. It closed on 7 August 2011. Swan and Edgar moved their haberdashery business into

8512-473: The store by buying the Harrods group. In 2005, House of Fraser announced that the store would close the following year, after it had been making a loss for several years and not kept up with more fashion-conscious department stores elsewhere. The building has been redeveloped with small shop units on the lower floors and flats and offices above. The Liberty department store is based at Nos. 210–220. It

8624-537: The street without having to face bad weather. The buildings along the Quadrant had different facades, a deliberate choice by Nash to break away from the uniform design of the previous century and a pragmatic means of using what building materials were available and what clients wanted. The road was planned to end outside Carlton House in Pall Mall, the residence of the Prince of Wales. Nash insisted that businesses on

8736-461: The street would be of high-quality to rival nearby Bond Street ; common trades such as butchers or greengrocers were not allowed. The design was adopted by an act of Parliament, the New Street Act 1813 ( 53 Geo. 3 . c. 121), which permitted the commissioners to borrow £600,000 for building and construction. The street was intended for commercial purposes and it was expected that most of

8848-417: The study of meteorology : in 1662, he invented the tipping bucket rain gauge and, in 1663, designed a "weather-clock" that would record temperature, humidity, rainfall and barometric pressure. A working weather clock based on Wren's design was completed by Robert Hooke in 1679. In addition, Wren experimented on muscle functionality, hypothesizing that the swelling and shrinking of muscles might proceed from

8960-464: The term "neurology". During this time period, Wren became interested in the design and construction of mechanical instruments. It was probably through Holder that Wren met Sir Charles Scarburgh whom Wren assisted in his anatomical studies. Another sister Anne Brunsell, married a clergyman and is buried in Stretham . On 25 June 1650, Wren entered Wadham College, Oxford , where he studied Latin and

9072-586: The theatre in 1995. The University of Westminster 's main campus is at No. 309 Regent Street. Founded in 1838 under the chairmanship of George Cayley , it is one of the oldest educational institutions in Central London. It began life as the Royal Polytechnic Institution (after a royal charter had been formally received in August 1839 Prince Albert became a patron to the institution). The Polytechnic closed in 1881, but

9184-641: The works of Aristotle . It is anachronistic to imagine that he received scientific training in the modern sense. However, Wren became closely associated with John Wilkins , the Warden of Wadham . The Wilkins circle was a group whose activities led to the formation of the Royal Society , comprising a number of distinguished mathematicians, creative workers and experimental philosophers. This connection probably influenced Wren's studies of science and mathematics at Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1651, and two years later received M.A. After receiving his M.A. in 1653, Wren

9296-584: Was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England . Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including what is regarded as his masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral , on Ludgate Hill , completed in 1710. The principal creative responsibility for

9408-549: Was an early example of town planning in England, replacing earlier roads including Swallow Street . Nash and Burton's street layout has survived, although all the original buildings except All Souls Church have been replaced following reconstruction in the late 19th century. The street is known for its flagship retail stores, including Liberty , Hamleys , Jaeger and the Apple Store . The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now

9520-464: Was an exhibition of perspective pictures of different places and landmarks in the world, held on March 2, 1834, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Cosmoramic Views Exhibited This article related to an art display, art museum or gallery is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London . It

9632-467: Was an ideal candidate for regeneration. The road was designed to curve east between Oxford Street and Piccadilly so that it did not meet St James's Square , and the circuses allowed visual continuity down the street. The central section, known as the Quadrant, was designed for "shops appropriated to articles of fashion and taste," and was Nash's centrepiece for the street. It was built with a colonnade of cast-iron columns, allowing commuters to walk along

9744-459: Was an urgent need for the government to create jobs. Government expenditure was low because the design relied heavily on private developers, such as Nash himself. The buildings were let on 99-year leases, as was common at the time, and income could be recouped in the form of ground rent. James Burton, the pre-eminent Georgian London property developer , designed and constructed 191 of the houses of Regent Street, and their joining archways. Five of

9856-596: Was appointed as Surveyor-General to the First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1793 and concluded that there should be a suitable road in place by 1811, when the lease for Marylebone Park ran out and ownership reverted to the Crown. It was hoped the road could link Pall Mall and the Haymarket , which had declined and became downmarket. A further problem was increased congestion around Charing Cross , which would benefit from road improvements. The street

9968-573: Was brought in to draw up proposals for the Circus and the Quadrant after early plans were considered unsatisfactory. His scheme was approved in principle but subject to indecision and dispute, both on property acquisition and retailers' demand for bigger display windows. Shaw's design for the Piccadilly Hotel was completed in 1908 with modifications, while the Quadrant was rebuilt by Blomfield, adapting Shaw's designs. The work started in 1923 and

10080-466: Was completed by 1928. Significantly, no accommodation was built above any of the retail properties, contributing to the demise of the West End as a place of residence. A limited number of architects were responsible for the redesigned street, including Sir John James Burnet , Arthur Joseph Davis and Henry Tanner . The Work was delayed by World War I and not finished until 1927. Its completion

10192-465: Was declared void on 17 May 1690. Over a decade later he was elected unopposed for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis at the November 1701 general election . He retired at the general election the following year. Wren's career was well established by 1669, and it may have been his appointment as Surveyor of the King's Works early that year that persuaded him that he could finally afford to marry. In 1669,

10304-476: Was demolished in 1928 (with much of the fixtures ending up in the Victoria and Albert Museum ) to construct Broadcasting House. Construction was challenging because the building had to be visually similar to other properties on Regent Street, yet also contain over twenty soundproofed studios. The exterior is built of Portland stone and above the front entrance is a sculpture by Eric Gill . Broadcasting House

10416-551: Was designed by John Nash (who had been appointed to the Office of Woods and Forests in 1806 and previously served as an adviser to the Prince Regent) and by developer James Burton . Nash proposed his own plans for the street in 1810 following the death of Fordyce, envisioning broad, architecturally distinguished thoroughfares and public spaces, and planned to construct a straight boulevard as seen in French cities, but this

10528-641: Was designed by MacCormac Jamieson Prichard . Originally named the Egton House, it was renamed to the John Peel Wing in 2012, in memory of the radio broadcaster. The Paris Theatre was located in a converted cinema in Lower Regent Street, near other BBC buildings. Several rock groups performed live concerts here, including The Beatles , Queen and Pink Floyd , which were simultaneously recorded for broadcast. The BBC stopped using

10640-431: Was elected a fellow of All Souls' College in the same year and began an active period of research and experiment in Oxford. Among these were a number of physiological experiments on dogs, including one now recognized as the first injection of fluids into the bloodstream of a live animal under laboratory conditions. At Oxford he became part of the group around John Wilkins , he was key to the correspondence network known as

10752-527: Was established at No. 54 Oxford Street as Dickins and Smith before moving to Nos. 232–234 Regent Street in 1835. It was renamed to Dickins and Jones in the 1890s after John Pritchard Jones became a business partner, and by the turn of the 20th century employed over 200 people. It became part of the Harrods group in 1914, and expanded to cover Nos. 224–244 in 1922, in a new building designed by Sir Henry Tanner . In 1959, House of Fraser took over

10864-546: Was first used by the BBC on 2 May 1932, and total construction costs were £350,000. It was too small for all services, and St George's Hall, next to All Souls, was used for variety broadcasts until it was demolished during the Blitz . On 15 October 1940, the building took a direct hit, killing seven people, and later that year a landmine exploded on Portland Place, causing widespread fires in Broadcasting House. Despite

10976-424: Was founded by entrepreneur Arthur Lasenby Liberty , who had been inspired by the 1862 International Exhibition and wanted to open an oriental warehouse. He opened his first shop, East India House in 1875 at No. 218a, selling silk garments and various oriental goods. The shop expanded into other properties on Regent Street in the 1880s, separated by a jeweller's shop which was bridged by a double staircase called

11088-759: Was highly regarded by Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal . Wren was born in East Knoyle in Wiltshire , the only surviving son of Christopher Wren the Elder (1589–1658) and Mary Cox, the only child of the Wiltshire squire Robert Cox from Fonthill Bishop . Christopher Sr. was, at that time, the rector of East Knoyle and, later, Dean of Windsor . It was while they were living at East Knoyle that all their children were born; Mary, Catherine and Susan were all born by 1628, but then several children who were born died within

11200-479: Was left only with nominal charge of a board of works when the surveyorship started in 1715. On 26 April 1718, on the pretext of failing powers, he was dismissed in favour of William Benson . In 1713, he bought the manor of Wroxall , Warwickshire, from the Burgoyne family , to which his son Christopher retired in 1716 after losing his post as Clerk of Works. Several of Wren's descendants would be buried there in

11312-625: Was marked by King George V and Queen Mary driving in state along its length. The only remaining Nash building is All Souls Church and all the buildings on the street are at least Grade II listed . All the properties are in the Regent Street Conservation Area. Meanwhile, the Bakerloo line of the London Underground was built running under the street for part of its course from 1902 until 1906, when it

11424-407: Was never to marry again; he lived to be over 90 years old and of those years was married only nine. Bletchingdon was the home of Wren's brother-in-law William Holder, who was rector of the local church. Holder had been a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford . An intellectual of considerable ability, he is said to have been the figure who introduced Wren to arithmetic and geometry. Wren's later life

11536-601: Was not possible because of land ownership issues. Nash's final design resulted in a road situated further west than on previous plans, and Nash believed the road would run down a de facto line separating the upper classes and nobility in Mayfair with the working class in Soho . The construction of the northern section of the New Street involved demolishing most of the existing Swallow Street , which had become run down and

11648-481: Was not to meet her till six weeks after the marriage. As with the first marriage, this too produced two children: a daughter Jane (1677–1702); and a son William, "Poor Billy" born June 1679, who was developmentally delayed. Like the first, this second marriage was also brief. Jane Wren died of tuberculosis in September 1680. She was buried alongside Faith and Gilbert in the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Wren

11760-471: Was not unusual... Perhaps Wren also had experience of the business of fortification, more than we know." Wren's first known foray into architecture came after his uncle, Matthew Wren , Bishop of Ely , offered to finance a new chapel for Pembroke College, Cambridge . Matthew commissioned his nephew for the design, finding the architecturally inexperienced Christopher to be both ideologically sympathetic and stylistically deferential. Wren produced his design in

11872-574: Was not without criticisms and attacks on his competence and his taste. In 1712, the Letter Concerning Design of Anthony Ashley Cooper , third Earl of Shaftesbury , circulated in manuscript. Proposing a new British style of architecture, Shaftesbury censured Wren's cathedral, his taste and his long-standing control of royal works. Although Wren was appointed to the Fifty New Churches Commission in 1711, he

11984-452: Was opened on 10 March that year. The line's entrance at Oxford Circus tube station, near Argyll Street, was designed by Leslie W. Green using glazed terracotta as a facing material. By the 1970s, Regent Street had started to decline because of under-investment and competition from neighbouring areas such as Oxford Street or shopping centres away from Central London. In 2002, the Crown Estate , which owns most of Regent Street on behalf of

12096-829: Was promptly re-founded by Quintin Hogg as The Polytechnic at Regent Street. In 1970 it was amalgamated with Holborn College of Law, Languages and Commerce to become the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL), which in turn became the University of Westminster in 1992. The university houses the Regent Street Cinema which acted as a platform for major scientists, artists and authors such as Charles Dickens , John Henry Pepper , and The Lumière Brothers ( Auguste and Louis Lumière ) where public and private screenings of Cinématographe were shown to an audience. The cinema

12208-539: Was restored and reopened to the public in May 2015. All Souls Church is at the top of Regent Street next to Broadcasting House. It was built in 1823 out of Bath stone and consecrated in 1824, and is the only surviving building in Regent Street that was designed by John Nash. The Café Royal , located at 68 Regent Street in the Quadrant, was opened in 1865 by Daniel Nicols and became an institution of London high society. In 1895 Oscar Wilde argued with Frank Harris in

12320-466: Was trained by his father to be an architect. It was this Christopher that supervised the topping out ceremony of St Paul's in 1710 and wrote the famous Parentalia, or, Memoirs of the family of the Wrens . Faith Wren died of smallpox on 3 September 1675. She was buried in the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields beside the infant Gilbert. A few days later Wren's mother-in-law, Lady Coghill, arrived to take

12432-579: Was unsuccessful again in a by-election for the Oxford University constituency in 1674, losing to Thomas Thynne . At his third attempt Wren was successful, and he sat for Plympton Erle during the Loyal Parliament of 1685 to 1687. Wren was returned for New Windsor on 11 January 1689 in the general election , but his election was declared void on 14 May 1689. He was elected again for New Windsor on 6 March 1690 , but this election

12544-540: Was written by Wren's eldest son and heir, Christopher Wren the Younger The inscription, which is also inscribed in a circle of black marble on the main floor beneath the centre of the dome, reads: SUBTUS CONDITUR HUIUS ECCLESIÆ ET VRBIS CONDITOR CHRISTOPHORUS WREN, QUI VIXIT ANNOS ULTRA NONAGINTA, NON SIBI SED BONO PUBLICO. LECTOR SI MONUMENTUM REQUIRIS CIRCUMSPICE Obijt XXV Feb: An°: MDCCXXIII Æt: XCI. which translates from Latin as: Here in its foundations lies

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